Candi Wolff leaves White House

Candi Wolff on Friday concludes her three-year run as the president’s top congressional liaison after helping George W. Bush navigate the rockiest stretch of his presidency.

Her tenure began with the failed push to reform Social Security and ended last week with a string of legislative wins for the White House, which included an unfettered $70 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Along the way, she juggled her boss’s prerogatives and priorities with political realities on Capitol Hill, enduring lengthy tussles this year over the Iraq war, comprehensive immigration reform and the uproar stemming from an administration decision to fire nine federal prosecutors.

“You can get push back from both sides,” Wolff said of her post at the turbulent intersection of Congress and the White House.

This year she helped the White House retool its congressional outreach after Democrats bounced Republicans from power in 2006 following a dozen-year GOP run in charge of Capitol Hill.

The Democratic takeover forced Wolff and her team to focus more on coordination and communication than on rounding up the votes necessary to pass bills, since Republicans no longer draft legislation or decide what does and doesn’t get brought up for a vote.

That transition required the White House and GOP leaders on Capitol Hill to agree when to cooperate with the new majority and when to fight.

“We didn’t make judgments or take any action without her close involvement,” said White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten.

And Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said of Wolff: “Nobody’s smarter, and nobody’s more effective.”

Even the staunchest Bush critics had kind words for her performance. Wolff communicated frequently with top Democratic aides to maintain day-to-day operations and foster more trust, said John Lawrence, chief of staff to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who fought bitterly and frequently with the White House this year.

“You can have disagreements, but you have to be able to believe the other person is telling the truth,” he said.

“Her professionalism has had a major impact” on relations between the two parties.

Her network in the White House also extended beyond Congress, so she often heard things before members or aides in the Capitol.

For example, an angry senator might call a Cabinet secretary with his concerns before notifying the leadership, so she would hear it before anyone on the Hill.

Colleagues praise Wolff for her meticulous preparation, her attention to detail and her understated personality.

Members, aides and administration colleagues credit her keen political instincts for allowing her to catch trouble early.

Wolff spent eight years as a Senate aide, which made her particularly adept at navigating that chamber’s arcane rules and intimately personal politics.

“It was great to have someone in the White House who had Senate experience,” said Gary Myrick, the chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who sparred openly and often with the president.